Cloud computing and Big Data will dominate IT healthcare trends in 2014

It might not be a shock that Liaison Healthcare Informatics, a unit of Atlanta-based Liaison Technologies, sees cloud computing as playing a dominant role in IT deployments in the coming year, since that’s one of the technologies the company specializes in. Even so, it makes a case for how cloud computing, along with the need to gather large and diverse databases for analytics (what the world generally calls “Big Data”) as key drivers.

In a statement issued toward the end of the year, the company makes sets of predictions for what will be key focus areas for healthcare-provider clients, and for life sciences clients. There’s an implied synergy that what will benefit healthcare providers will also have value for manufacturers, and vice versa:

Healthcare

• Big Data — Now what? Providers must now take into consideration how they approach Big Data, setting in to place the next steps to turn critical patient information into actionable insight. Collecting patient data across the care continuum allows providers to benefit at a practice level, doling out faster and improved treatment plans to their patients. At a more macro level, providers can benefit by using clinical insight to more accurately assess, predict and manage larger patient populations.
• The combined vantage point of clinical, financial and operational data. Providers oftentimes focus on the clinical workflow of their organization to improve patient care. In the coming years, it will be equally as critical to evaluate the financial and operational workflows of running a successful healthcare business.
• Technologies to improve patient care and enhance business processes. Industry pressures are a critical factor to the way healthcare organizations consider doing business. Compliance to Meaningful Use and ICD-10, for example, reign as a big challenge that providers must overcome in order to get on with business.

Life sciences

• Working smarter to build the right relationships and leverage the best technologies. Tighter relationships with providers can enhance the collection of structured and unstructured patient information. Strategic partnerships with vendors enables access to the best breed of technologies.
• Greater cloud adoption. Adoption of cloud-based technologies will only increase in 2014, as these organizations have spent a lot of time and money to ensure that offerings are regulatory compliant. Combine fast turnaround implementation time with the ability to reduce operational costs and operate in an increasingly complex environment, cloud computing has the potential to address many of life sciences’ industry pain points.
• Big Data is a big deal. Life sciences organizations have been experimenting with Big Data during the last couple of years, so it’s now time for these organizations to leverage the lessons learned to grow from their experience. From patient recruitment and clinical trials to market sentiment and pharmacovigilance, life sciences organizations already have a myriad of data points at their fingertips. As with healthcare organizations, pharmaceutical companies must leverage this information to analyze and create informative analytics.